Friday, June 24, 2011

after posting these pictures of putting up our tent in our kitchenslashfamilyroom, i'll share the story along with it.

we have been trying to take a family vacation for months now, and trying to do it before the baby comes, because...well, life just changes after that and i kind of hunker down for a while.

my sister was going to come out with her kiddos in april....and then that was cancelled because her kids got sick and then, a big shocker, so did mine. we were bummed.

we had a trip to utah planned for early in may....but then that was cancelled due to our frantic move from the moldy house. we were more bummed.

we had been invited to go camping with ben's twinner & her family over memorial day weekend....which was cancelled when we found out the day before we were supposed to leave that caleb needed immediate surgery the next morning to repair his arm.

for father's day weekend i asked ben if he wanted to take the kids camping. being honest, camping is not on my list of top 100 things to do for the weekend, especially when i'm 8 1/2 mos pregnant, but ben loves it & we finally had a tent that was big enough to fit our air mattress in...which at this point is the only way you could convince me to roll my big belly out to the out-of-doors. and since we'd had to cancel so many fun things due to so many un-fun things, i wanted to be a good sport.

he said yes, got that special gleam in his eyes when he starts thinking about trail mix and bug spray, and we started to plan it.

....only to have caleb come down with a seriously crazy-looking rash that started just above his cast and started climbing up his neck and onto his face. after 3 days of watching it, putting on hydrocortisone cream & giving him benadryl at night, it was only getting worse. so the day before we were going to leave to go camping, we took him to the doctor to figure out what it was.

it's so fun when the peditrician is as puzzled about a rash as we are.

"could be a virus? could be an allergy?" she askedslashtold us. and followed that up with the reasurring words: "i'd love to be there when they take off that cast to see what's going on underneath there. that would be interesting."

uhhhh. great? glad this is so exciting to you? we'll mail you an invite when they're going to take off the cast?

of course my vivid imagination went wild with that statement. picturing us on the next episode of "medical mysteries" while a group of experts gathered around as they broke open the cast to reveal something extremely nasty.

she said that if it were a virus, that it would likely be followed by a fever and then who knows what else. of course this was the day before we were planning on leaving for the father's day campout. we have to go several hours outside of where we're living to get to cooler weather and decided that it wasn't worth it to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere in case a possible virus hit.

needless to say, but i'll say it anyway.....we were bummed.

so, that's when we decided to bring camping to our home. we set up the tent, i made some good food, and we invited our new across the street neighbors {who also happened to have been in our rexburg 11th ward back in the newlywed days--and also happen to be a really fun couple with some cute girls--bonus!} for an in-home campout night. we put our t.v. & dvd player from our bedroom in the tent, grabbed a bunch of blankets & pillows, and wha-lah! here's a picture of the kids in the tent, watching "brother bear":

the week before, ben had gone out early to some yard sales on the hunt for a cheap dresser to put the baby's clothes in....and even though he didn't find a dresser, {we're still looking in case any of you local folks know of a dresser up for grabs} he did find this:

our own fire pit for the backyard. a dream come true for the once hardcore camper extraordinaire. not me, ben. the only thing i have ever been hardcore about is naps. and icecream.

so we roasted marshmallows, had smores, and had fun talking and hanging out.

that night, ben & caleb slept in the tent. there was no way i was going to sleep there if my bed was just a few feet away. i might be crazy, but i'm not that crazy.

it was a fun night, and i was glad that no matter the circumstances, we finally got our family vacation.

p.s. it wasn't a virus, just an allergic reaction. they changed his cast yesterday and luckily my nightmares of rotted gangrene skin did not come true. and also....his pediatrician was not invited to the cast removal.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

we haven't had new bedding for about 4 years, and i wanted a change. but a change on a budget is kind of difficult to do, especially knowing that it probably won't be able to be changed for another 4-5 years. so i dropped the dreams of going all out and compromised for something that would be less expensive and easier to work around.

ben's only request was not too "froofy" which i thought was fair.

i tried to keep it simple when it came to the bedding, so that i could change it up at anytime and wouldn't have to work to hard to change out colors. not sure if the camera is showing the color great, but the blanket and sheets are a light grey.

i chose something a little more different as the focal point. i saw this tapestry at urban outfitters and have always loved blues/greens/grays in the bedroom. it was different, and i was worried that it wouldn't turn out, but i'm really liking it so far.

then ben called it "psychedelic" and that he loved it because it reminded him of his good ol' hippie-wannabe days in high school. hmmmmmmm.....

i'm going to change out the lamp shades when i find either some gray or dark blue ones that fit our lamps. and probably add a couple of teal/blue/gray small pillows when we have the budget for it.

can i say though, that i am having a seriously difficult time with the windows in this place? all of them are the same...blinds with a cover over the front. i'd like to add some grey curtains but i'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

and if it weren't such a waste of money to have her keeping the door open, i would leave her there all day, thoroughly entertained.

but on the days when i bring home a whole lot of groceries and have to clean out the old before putting in the new, i let her "help" me.

on this particular day, she was rearranging things while simultaneously munching on cheese.

i realized i just blogged about my daughter standing in the fridge and eating cheese.
we sure are an exciting bunch around here, aren't we??

sometimes though, i like to remember the daily things my kids do,
their quirkiness.
because i tend to forget.

i also know that in just a few short weeks, these daily things
will probably take a backseat to the new baby in the house.

so i want to remember things like leah playing in the fridge.

it's always a battle of the wills when i'm done & trying to get her to close the door,

but before the end is near, she's completely content.

p.s. her hair only looks this shagadelic around....73% of the time.

the rest of the time i actually do her hair.

but another big-girl haircut is needed and pronto.

p.s.s. in case you missed the announcement, i'll be changing the blog over to private in about a week or so. if you want an invite, leave a comment! {not sure why, but a few peeps are saying that blogger isn't letting them comment. sorry about that! leave one here if you need to, or on my facebook page. }

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About Me

nicknamed "midge," short for midget... though i'm not one, but i'm close.
i don't love capitalizing, but twitch over incorrect grammar. a lover of music, sweaters, books, photography, naps, pesto, writing, rainy days, stimulating and deep conversation, the ocean, laughter, nutella, and the oregon coast.
married 13 years to a man who likes to express himself through his facial hair and an addiction to cheese, a mother to an intelligent and easily excitable 10 yr old son with cerebral palsy, a 6 yr old daughter full of imagination, sassiness and laughter, a 4 year old hilarious introvert, and our curly-haired sweet but fiesty 1 year old.
this is where i write about surviving as a wife of a doctoral student in the heat of arizona, our move to doctoral internship in texas, pooping adventures, overcoming challenges, overgrown backyard weeds, continual growth and self-awareness in therapy, family love and sibling fights.
currently on a journey of self-discovery, self-worth and acceptance.
i have a tendency to ramble.